Gardening Cards And Free Spirit Designs Summer Newsletter For Handmade Monday

Happy first day of Summer! Appropriately the sun has made a welcome reappearance here after a bit of a gloomy week weather-wise. I hope it is shining on you too.

Gardening Notecards

The garden is still flourishing despite the rain and today we've made the most of the return of the sunny weather by getting some seasonal jobs done out there. We had a little helper lending a paw with potting on the tomatoes...

... before it all proved to be too exhausting :)

I've also listed this a set of three notecards featuring some of my 'Gardener's World' designs in my Print And Paper shop on Etsy (priced £5.25).

As with all my cards they are printed on top quality paper stock with a satin finish that gives them a lovely feel.

Summer Newsletter

A little while ago i started writing a quarterly seasonal newsletter for Free Spirit Designs customers and this week i published the Summer 2014 edition. Click on the pic to take a peek!

Its full of news about new products (including an exclusive reveal of some Summer notecards which haven't even reached the shops yet). As always there is the opportunity to grab a bargain too, this time its a special discount code... you'll have to read visit the newsletter to find out what it is though!

Click on the 'subscribe' button on the top left of the newsletter page if you'd like future editions delivered straight to your inbox (your email will not be disclosed to any third parties).

That's all from me for another week! Time to pop over to Handmade Harbour and find out what you've all been up to :)

Thanks for visiting! x

Water The Plants Sign And Butterfly Fabric Storage Basket For Handmade Monday

We've had some gorgeous weather this week and its been a pleasure to work on some summery makes in my lovely sunny new kitchen :)

I look forward, as always, to hearing your thoughts!

Remember To Water The Plants!

Its getting to that time of year when potted plants, especially tender young seedlings need regular watering so i thought it would be the perfect time to make some reminder signs...

I've used a nice linen/cotton blend fabric featuring my Watering Seedlings design (available to buy from my Spoonflower shop) for the background, and i've hand embroidered the message on hessian.

The reverse is un-dyed organic cotton and i've used interfacing in between so that the sign holds its shape.

Its completed with a twine hanging string with wooden button embellishments,

and is available now from my Etsy shop priced £9.50.

* I made a stuffed heart version of this last year which was popular but i thought perhaps a sign that hangs flat against a wall might be more practical... time will tell which my lovely customers prefer!

Butterfly Meadow Storage Basket

I've been meaning to add some storage baskets to my shops for a while now, i'm a big fan of pretty and practical makes!

I've used my favourite linen/cotton blend fabric, printed this time with my Butterfly Meadow design in pink and blue (also available from Spoonflower).

The fabric i've used for the lining and base is a gorgeous organic linen which i've fallen in love with and plan to use in lots more projects.

As i'm sure many of you know, baskets like this are super useful for storing away crafty bits and bobs.

I think this one would look fab in a little girls room too, it could be a handy place to keep anything from dolls cloths to hair bands, brushes etc. Its 20cms high and 18cms across at it widest - to give you an idea of capacity it will comfortable hold 20 average sized apples!

This basket is now available from my Etsy shop priced £18 and i have plans to make more to join it soon.

Right now though i'm off to enjoy what's left of a glorious afternoon in the garden...

i'll be back later on for a pleasant evening stroll around Handmade Harbour though... see you there! x

Rustic Gardeners Bunting For Handmade Monday

The gardening theme has continued for me this week with some rustic bunting featuring some of my Gardener's World fabrics... (available to buy for your own crafting from my Spoonflower Shop)

Rustic Gardener's Bunting

I've alternated the patterned cotton flags with hessian (burlap) which i hope enhances the rustic charm :) 

The whole length measures 170cms with additional string ties at either end. I think it would look cute in a conservatory, garden room or any other space that invites the outside in, i hope you do too!

Its available now from my website and Etsy shop priced £16.50.

Meanwhile, everything its grow grow growing in the garden just now and on our allotment too... here's a pic of the dog sunning himself by the strawberry patch (while i get on with weeding it!) It will be worth it when all those yummy strawberries appear in a few weeks :))

What have you been up to? I'm off over to Handmade Monday to find out!

Thanks for stopping by :) x

Personalised Garden Journal And A Chance To Win Some Lavender Pillows For Handmade Monday

After a busy April moving house its been sooo lovely to get back to making things this week!

Bedroom Blinds

I couldn't resist starting off with something for my new home! We needed some blinds for our bedroom and seeing as i'd never made any before i thought it would be a fun project to tackle.

I went for stripes of grey linen and white cotton canvas with simple velcro tie-backs... 

I'm pleased with how they turned out although i can't say the same about the photo! I should have snapped a pic before they were up with the light behind them... hopefully you get the idea though :)

Personalised Garden Journal

Its such a lovely time of year to spend time in the garden isn't it, there's new life everywhere from tiny seedlings to heavenly blossom and its all so refreshing and inspiring. I find myself ooohing and ahhhing everywhere i go and making mental lists of all the things i want to do to make my garden into the perfect outdoor retreat!

Poppies are one of my favourite flowers so these gorgeous orange ones i recently saw sprouting from a wall are now definitely on the list,

as are these beautiful white/pink/lilac bluebells i saw on a country lane... aren't they just soooo pretty!

It probably won't surprise you to hear that my makes this week have had a garden theme too...

The first is a personalised garden journal.

The fabric for the cover is a linen cotton blend featuring my peas and pea shoots design. Its one of my favourites, i love the freshness of the greens and white together and i've been itching to make something with it for a while.

It can be personalised with any name, hand embroidered on the front.

It comes complete with an A5 notebook made from recycled paper (which can easily be replaced with a new one when it is used up).

The cover is lined with natural white organic cotton and has been top stitched for a neat finish.

Its not listed for sale yet but it will be soon... i also have plans for some more notebook covers so watch this space!

Win A Set Of Nesting Bird Lavender Pillows!

I have started work on another garden themed creation this week but seeing as its not yet complete and this post is getting long already i'll save it for next week!

One thing i must let you know about before i go though is the competition currently being run on the WowThankYou facebook page - all you need to do is pop along and leave a comment saying which is your favourite or four sets of lavender pillows and at the end of the bank holiday one of the people who voted for the set with the most votes will win it!

One of the sets up for grabs is my nesting birds trio of lavender pillows (worth £12)...

If you fancy being in with a chance of winning them, do pop along and vote (a big thank you to those that have already! :))

Don't forget to visit Handmade Harbour for Handmade Monday too... see you there! x

Saturday Share (4) Spring Gardener

Welcome to the Saturday Share! Its time to spread the love and celebrate the work of creative people you admire.

Is this your first visit? Then here's what the Saturday Share is all about... Its where i share some of my most recent Etsy finds with you and you get to share some of your current Etsy favourites with me and my blog readers! It could be a treasury you've created or a fabulous Etsy shop you've discovered... either way, just leave a link in the comments at the end of the post and i promise i will pop along to check them out!

Here are some of my favourite finds of this week... i hope you like them too! x

* p.s. click on any image to visit the treasury over on Etsy! 

Spring Fresh And Garden Room Fabrics Now For Sale!

Exciting news, sample swatches of my new fabrics have arrived! This of course means that they're also now available for sale from my Spoonflower shop if any take your fancy for your own crafting projects.

I've already got a few ideas of what i want to create with some of these designs but if you have any bright ideas of what you think they would work well, do let me know in the comments! :)

Spring Fresh Fabric Collection

I was so excited when the samples arrived in the post this morning that i wanted to get them photographed straight away... i thought they would look cute hanging on a line but a you can see from the image at the top of the post, the wind was making this very hard work... I managed to get the chicks done though - here's a close up of the turquoise version.

All of the swatches are 8x8 inches... i'm tempted to make some little egg cosies from the chick designs... what do you think?

Here are the bunnies...

... i'm pretty pleased with how they've turned out, for some reason my first thought of what to make with this design is oven mitts! I think they would be really cute :)  I'll need to order some more of the fabric first though... any thoughts on what i could make with these 8x8" swatches?

Here are the flowery designs in colours to compliment the rest...

... i'm thinking either lavender pillows or mini bunting for these swatches or perhaps i'll combine the  yellow and green with the rabbits above for some fun spring bunting on a slightly larger scale.

Last but not least from the Spring Fresh collection is my Birds On A Wire design...

... this is one of my favs (as you can probably tell as its currently gracing the background of my blog!) and i can't wait to make something with it... i'm just not sure what that's going to be yet!

To view details or buy any of these fabrics visit my Spring Fresh collection over on Spoonflower.

Garden Room Fabric Collection

If you're a regular visitor to my blog you might remember me showing you my Garden Room designs recently. I created them with soft furnishings for conservatories and other outdoor/indoor spaces in mind but of course they could work well in lots of other situations too!

Here is the garden tools design...

I'm really pleased with how this design looks in 'real life' and i'm happy with all the colourways although i think this is my favourite... there's something modern about the pastel blue on the olive green which i find refreshing, i hope you like it too!

The other design in my Garden Room collection so far is the garden chairs...

I'm happy with how they turned out too although this is not the best picture... i think i was getting a bit fed up of the wind blowing anything and everything away by the time i took it! Hopefully it still gives you an idea of how the design looks once its printed onto fabric though.

All of these photos show the colours pretty much as the are in real life. I hope they have helped you visualise the designs more clearly than the digital images i've been able to show you in the past. I would love to know what your favourites are if you have any!

Thank you very much to all those who left kind comments about my new mini notebooks last week, as always i enjoyed reading them and of course visiting the other Handmade Monday blogs and reading about everyone else's crafting adventures (which is where i'm off too now btw... have a great week and see you next time!)

Gardening Cards And A Blog Background For Handmade Monday

Hi all, how are you enjoying Autumn so far? For me its brought on a spurt of enthusiastic weed removal in the garden (the enthusiasm is for the end result, not the process :)). There's something about the arrival of that Autumnal chill in the air that makes me want to start putting everything in order.

There's lots to be harvested from our allotment too, like these pretty borlotti beans which will be frozen for tasty bean stews in the winter months...

(such a pity they loose their beautiful ruby red stripes when cooked!)

The gardening theme continues with this week's makes - i have some gardening greetings cards to show you and also a sneaky peak at a recent commission for someone with very green fingers...

Gardening Greetings Cards

Those of you who popped by my blog last week will know that i have recently had some of my designs printed as greetings cards (thank you for your kind comments about them, as always your support and feedback is much appreciated).

Here's a peak at the gardening theme ones, i look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Herbs In Pots

Potting Shed

Flowery Watering Cans

These cards will be available singly, on my website and in my FSD Print And Paper Etsy shop soon, priced £1.85 (UK postage is 60p for the first card but free for any additional cards).

The sets of cards i showed you last week have already started to appear in my Etsy shop and website and the rest will follow shortly!

Blog Background Commission

I love commissions as they invariably get me out of my comfort zone and exploring new creative territory. I was recently asked to design a blog/website background for a lovely lady who wants to write about and sell books/magazines on tropical gardening. She wanted a formal (not cartoony) design with a jigsaw of outlined images - here's what i came up with.

Happily she likes the design. The website is not up and running yet but i'll be sure to give you a link when it is so you can see the design in situ and perhaps learn something interesting about growing tropical plants! :)

For anyone wondering about how pricing works with a commission like this, i offer two options - for an original design which is entirely exclusive to you the price is £30. Alternatively, for a design which is exclusive to you for online use (i.e. for your blog/website) but where i retain the option to use the design or elements of it for other products such as fabrics, cards and craft papers, the price is £15.

The above design was created with the second option deal, so expect to see more of this design in some form... i already have an idea of the adaptions i want to make before using on a range of Free Spirit Design products!

Handmade Monday

That's all from me for this week folks, so its time to put my feet up and take a stroll around the other Handmade Monday crafty blogs, its always so exciting to see what everyone's been up too!

Thanks for dropping by :) x